The trio was inaugurated into the elite club honoured by the Slovenian Sports Journalists Association as the first winners of Olympic medals for Slovenia.

Jure Košir (46), competed for 15 seasons in the World Cup to earn 3 wins and 20 podium finishes, but his biggest achievement was the bronze medal in the men's slalom at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

Katja Koren Miklavec (43), broke out in 1993 as a 18-year-old to earn her first and only win in the World Cup in the women's super-G in Flachau, but the result that earned her the honour is the bronze medal in the slalom in Lillehammer.

Alenka Dovžan (42) was actually the first to win an Olympic medal for Slovenia, which also came in Lillehammer, where she won the bronze medal in the combined competition. She also won one World Cup race, a super-G in Italy's Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1994.

The association began honouring former famous athletes in 2011, with the first members to be inaugurated were gymnasts Leon Štukelj and Miroslav Cerar, widely regarded as the best Slovenian athletes of the 20th century.

They have been joined by a total of 57 greats since, including the trio that was inaugurated today, and the likes of Ivo Daneu (basketball), Branko Oblak (football), Bojan Križaj (Alpine skiing).

The trio was inducted in the Slovenian Sports Hall of Fame at the ceremony in Leon Štukelj Square after the draw for Friday's Golden Fox giant slalom event as part of the Alpine Ski World Cup.

With Košir, Koren Miklavec and Dovžan, the Slovenian Sports Journalists Association has started the induction of athletes who were active after Slovenia gained independence in 1991.